Mission Statement of the FH Council

The Fachhochschul Council (FH Council) is responsible for external quality assurance within Austria's FH Sector. Its operations are based on the Fachhochschul Studies Act (Fachhochschul-Studiengesetz, FHStG). THe 16 FH-Council members constitute a body of experts who have the relevant academic qualifications and professional experience as well as pedagogic expertise. They are appointed by the competent federal minister.

In their activites, the FH Council members are not bound by any instructions. This independence is laid down by law.

Objectives of the FH Council

• The FH Council ensures and promotes the quality of education in the FH sector.
  – It offers scientifically sound education, thus providing graduates with the skills necessary for being successful in their jobs.
  – It provides mandatory incentives for developing and promoting a quality culture within the Fachhochschulen and sees to it that the Fachhochschulen take their responsibility for quality seriously.
• The FH Council aims at intensifying the applied research and development activities af the Fachhochschulen and thus supports the know-how and technology transfer.
• The FH Council wants the Fachhochschulen to be sucessful players both in the domestic and international educational worlds and to have a clearly defined profile.
• The FH Council contributes to the provision of educational results the business community and society need to satisfy economic, cultural and social demands.
  

The FH Council is pursuing its objectives under up-to-date education-policy framework conditions. In 1994 the FH sector was created from sratch and has expanded continously ever since. The framework condititons are characterised by deregulation on governmental control. The Fachhochschulen are organised under private law and were given a high degree of autonomy. For the most part, they are publicly funded. Among all these factors, quality assurance plays a central role.

Responsibilities of the FH Council

• Programme accreditation and institutional evaluation;
• Awarding academic degrees and recognising foreign degrees (Nostrifizierung);
• Ensuring education standards by monitoring the degree programmes, in particular the final examinations;
• Promoting the quality of teaching and learning as wel as innovations in the FH sector;
• Monitoring the evolution of the FH sector as part of the education and employment systems as well ad advising the competent federal ministry in FH issues and the funding of degree programmes;
• Providing annual reports to the competent federal ministery and the Austrian National Assembly on to the FH sector's evolution;
• Collecting and analysing statistical data on the FH sector.
  

With regard to its manifold responsibilities, the FH Council has a commitment to fulfil vis-à-vis its students and graduates as well as the business community and society. To this end, it is assisted by the managing body. The managing body prepares the bases for the FH Councils's decision-making and implements its resolutions. It serves as an interface between students, ministeries, course-providing bodies, degree programmes and international institutions and ensures that communication is smooth and information is folowing freely between all parties involved.

Working principles of the FH Council

• The FH Council meets its responisbilities in accordance with clearly structured and publicly available requirements, guidelines, standards and procedures;
• The FH Council's decisions are transparent, consistent and understandable;
• The FH Council is committed to the dialogue with the Fachhochschulen; it works in a constructive and pragmatic way, aiming at achieving results and solving problems;
• The FH Council involves the Fachhochschule in advancing quality assurance procedures;
• The applicants' wish for a speedy, fair, expedient and economical procedure is taken into account;
• The FH Council is open for advice from external sources and is modelled on international requirements and standards in the fields of accreditation and evaluation;
• The FH Council utilises state-of-the-art information and communication technologies in order to handle procedures in a speedy and efficient way;
• The FH Council manages the available public funds and resources in an economical and expedient way;
• The FH Council sees itself as a learning organisation that is evolving, and it subjects itself to external, international evaluation.